Seeing and Hearing Information about the Queens and Long Island NY Real Estate market.
Currently Serving and dealing with Queens and Nassau New York Real Estate.

October 2007

October 19, 2007

Sometimes I have to chuckle. Its not that I am laughing at someone or behind their back, its more like I am laughing at the situation. Do you know what I mean?

In June, I posted about a house that was in foreclosure and was heading right to auction. More Ironically, I knew the original owners but I did not list the property. They wanted way too much money and I am not in the habit of taking over priced homes. I did show the home once or twice but no takers were willing to come up to their asking price. The home was on the market for MORE than a year and never sold. There were not alot of price reductions and I assume there were not alot of offers.

The home foreclosed.

The "investor" now has the home back on the market. Here is the part I find funny, the home is listed for $120,000 more than the LAST offered price prior to foreclosure.

October 16, 2007

Today was a great day at the MLS Tech Fair, it was a SOLD out event that I feel gave Realtors alot of useful information. I actually over heard a few women in the hallway saying how overwhelmed and overloaded they felt with information and both women hoped that they remembered a quarter of what was said.

I have to say that this was my first time speaking in public to that large of a group. My nerves were high prior to the panel sitting down but once we got started and I saw how receptive the audience was and I quickly relaxed and enjoyed the moment.

If there are people from that event reading this blog, I invite you to comment your thoughts and feelings about the session: What did you like? What should we change? Did you walk away with the urge to start your blog? Have you started a blog of your own yet?

I felt like our panel worked well together and gave alot of great information. But, I would like to know what the audience took away from the session (and think of it this way, this is your first step to blogging).

I want to thank MLSLI for inviting me and I look forward to reading your new blog (which I will add to my blog roll once you have it live). I want to extend my thank you to Jenny Natale and Beth O'Connor as well as the rest of the crew who assisted us. I was delighted to take part in such a great function that you planned. Do you do Weddings?

I would like to give a shout out to those who introduced themselves to me:

And to those who I already knew, it was great to see you and talk to each of you:

Paula Annaruma - PCA Realty

Barbara Gunn - Prudential, Franklin Square

Judy D. - Remax, Markowitz Group

Lois Hanson - Coach

And last - To the panel, You guys ROCK! It was such a pleasure to meet you Dan - Dan, I will think of you when I am cooking up my chili and the next time you are in NY, let me know! I did not see you before I left and I did not get to thank you in person. Sorry!

Linda, I think you and I could have talked for hours. Keep in touch, now that I know you work within the same area as FOXWOODS, you might have an overnight guest. Frequently! (Ok, I kid!)

I hope you both made it home safe!

To my best blogger buddies, what can I say? It is always a pleasure, I learn something new every time we meet. I wish you nothing but the best - always. I appreciate your coat tails and wings that you have provided me. Thank you is not enough!

When I started to blog over a year and a half ago, I really had no direction, no idea what I was doing or where this would take me. I have never declared to be the authoritative blog. I don't go heavy into the politics of Real Estate and I steer clear of the heated discussions about Zillow, Redfin or any new technology. I have never quoted anything Latin on my blog and I certainly do not air out my laundry on my blog.

But I still blog.

I blog about my local area. I stick to what I know and I know Queens Real Estate. Sure there are agents who sell more and some that list more than I do. But none of them blog. I am almost the only Realtor that even has a blog, let alone blogs the way that I do. There are blogs that talk about their listings and blogs that repeat what articles say word for word, like snipping them out of the newspaper. But I feel that I have stood out. I am doing what no other Realtor or Company is doing. So for right now, I shine.

This past August, Ralph Roberts published a book "Foreclosures for Dummies" and believe it or not, he added me as a contributor! I was very flattered and so thrilled to get my complimentary book and I have read it from front to back. My take? Anyone who is looking to buy foreclosures should read this book. Right now you can buy it in your local Barnes and Nobles book store or you can click right here to go directly to Amazon.com.

October 13, 2007

I have lived in Queens for the last 18 years and I just found a park that I never knew existed.

This afternoon my youngest son played baseball at a little field called Linnaeus Park, it is located at 230th Street and 57th Road.

I have been in this area a ton of times, I have sold a few houses and rented a couple apartments, how did I ever miss this park?

Its a well kept secret.

So kept, that the park is in desperate need of fixing up. This park was "a bedraggled lot, choked with weeds and crabgrass that only rarely encountered a lawn mower.No one around it even knew it had a name". Then one day in 1992 a construction crew came to do an extreme makeover and the residents were not happy.Odd, but true. They felt that this new beautiful park would harbor late night parties, out of control kids and an attraction for outsiders.

That was then, but this is now.

Now that is field has been in active use for sometime now, wouldn't it be nice to make this the Queens Field of Dreams? It really could be beautiful.

I love Queens, I love Bayside and Whitestone. I have traveled to many ball fields since my oldest started playing ball 8 years ago and one thing that Queens NY lacks is nice ball field. The means are there, we already have the outlets, why can't Queens have the nice manicured fields that Long Island has?

You can see the condition of the field in this photo, yes.. that is my little pudge catching - ok, check out his stance - he looks good doesn't he? Anyhow - notice that there is no batters box? A ton of crab grass? See that there is no drawn base lines? Yep, this is Queens Ball Fields and they are all like this. How sad!

So Mr. Avella and Mr. Padavan and Mrs. Carrozza - What can we do about these sad looking fields?

October 11, 2007

Ohhh Geesh, if this is not a total case of corruption then I honestly don't know what is.

Today the TimesLedger had the update about Brian McLaughlin and his trial that has been postponed until... ohhhh how do you mark indefinitely on your calendar? I don't see a month for INDEFINITE. That's right, there will not be a trial. Not because he settled, nope. Not because he paid back what he stole from city unions, nonprofits, his own campaign committee or Electchester Little League, which by the way was more than 2.2 million in nickels and dimes or not because they found him not guilty. They postponed his hearing because ...

"But the timetable for the proceedings was altered after the case was reassigned to Judge Richard J. Sullivan from Judge Kenneth Karas on Sept. 7. A spokesman for the U.S. attorney said Monday the trial would go forward as scheduled, but Thursday the Manhattan office said the trial had been postponed indefinitely because the case would be overseen by a new judge." (TimesLedger)

One of my habits that I have formed within the last few months is to search on PropertySharks.com for new foreclosures, I like to see the properties that are going to be sold at auction and see the ones that have sold at the last auction (which is every Friday). The information that PropertySharks gives is by far the most comprehensive. Plus, Tina is the best with her stats...

But one of the BEST features is the Q and A section that changes every few months. Like this months question was:

Q. What if the bank buys the property at auction?

A. The bank just wants to get rid of it. Corner the bank's representative and give him or her a letter saying you want to buy the property. You can offer less than the bank paid for it since obviously nobody bid more than the bank. Generally speaking, banks only buy those properties which are "underwater", meaning that these properties have liens/debt in excess of the properties value. However a lot of this debt is "interest, penalties, and fees" imposed by the bank. If you buy from the bank after the auction, not only are they likely to waive their interest in these extra amounts, they may even discount the property slightly off the outstanding principal in order to get it off their books. Be sure to get the bank's attention before they pass the property off to a broker to sell. By that time, it's generally too late to get a good deal.

October 05, 2007

Back in May, I posted about the Whitestone Manor Condos that were in the process of being built. Well, as of last week they are offically on the market and listed through the MLS.

As of right now, I only see that there are 40 condos ranging from studios to two bedrooms (there was suppose to be 49. Did 9 sell already or is the builder holding onto the last nine?). Prices seem on target for a new construction condo unit.

I mean lets be honest here, buying a condo is absolutely better for a first time young buyer (or an empty nester) than a co-op. Less restrictions, less requirements and less BS that a young buyer would have to put up with. And for a new construction CONDO is very far and few inbetween in the Whitestone/Beechhurst area. That is what you are paying for.

So, would I recommend someone buying/investing in a condo unit in the Whitestone Manor? BY far, Yes!

Statistics

Field

Count

Mean(Average)

Median

Mode

Low

High

Listing Price

40

$413,368

$396,139

$237,165

$237,165

$662,792

Original Price

40

$413,114

$394,590

$237,165

$237,165

$662,792

Sold Price

0

n / a

n / a

n / a

n / a

n / a

% Difference

40

0

0

0

0

0

Taxes

40

$1,027

$968

598.44

598.44

1711.44

Bedrooms

39

1.2

1

1

1

2

Baths

40

1.2

1

1

1

2

Days On Market

0

n / a

n / a

n / a

n / a

n / a

**To see the three photos that Prudential took of these awesome condos, please view them on the MLS link I provided alone. I have a funny feeling that if I posted them here "courtesy of Prudential" I would have a few agents jumping down my back barking "copyright laws, blah, blah, blah..."

But... (Inserting self promotion here)---> ---> ---> If you want to see them - LET ME KNOW, my info is listed on the side bar!

October 04, 2007

Today PropertySharks sent me the stats for 3rd quarter. I am mostly looking at the stats for Queens and clearly you can see from this graph that the 3rd quarter almost doubled in the amount of foreclosures from the third quarter last year(2006). But, looking at the graph - While it is still scarey in comparison from last year, Queens has been holding steady with little increase.

Yes, it is true that Queens has had the most foreclosures on record, but take into consideration that Queens is bunched together and contains alot of zip codes. So, it is easy to think Queens as in; Bayside, Whitestone, Beechhurst, Flushing and Flushing North but it is not. You will see the top foreclosure areas by Zip code in my next graph.

Take a look at the top twenty areas by zip code graph, I hope that the graph can put things into a bit more perspective.

Tina Mattow from PropertySharks sent me this quote:

" New York City Boroughs: Staten Island had the largest percentage jump in foreclosures (64.81%)since last quarter, but Queens and Brooklyn again comprised the highest number of new foreclosure auctions in New York City".